I decided lately that instead of buying that pre-made pizza dough in the supermarket, that I would try making it at home. I never had much luck in the past making it, or at least making it good, but since I began making my own breads, I decided to give it another shot. Once I realized how easy it was, I started fooling with different pizza dishes.

One of my favorites is deep dish pizza and my recipe for it changes almost every time I make it. I find it fun trying different things with the sauce and the dough, in fact, lately it seems like I am making home made pizza twice a week. It really is a delight making it, and it is also a good dish to make with the kids. Instead of buying a deep pizza dish, I just use my cast iron skillet and it works great.

I think everyone should try this at least once so I figured I would write up my basic sauce and dough to get you started! 🙂

Sauce (make the dough shown below first):

• 1 large can crushed tomatoes (15 oz.).
• 1 pound hot Italian sausage removed from the casings.
• 3 cloves of garlic minced.
• 1 large carrot minced.
• 1 medium red onion or shallot, diced.
• 1/2 pound mushrooms (I use Crimini) sliced with stems removed.
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
• 2 tablespoons each chopped basil and chopped oregano.
• Salt and pepper.

You will need some shredded Mozzarella cheese to cover the pizza.
Place the sausage in a large sauce pan and heat to medium. While it is heating up, break up the sausage into small pieces. I am sure there are all types of great tools for this, but honestly, I just use an old large metal serving fork to break it all up. Whatever works for you.

Once the sausage is cooked and broken up, place on a plate with paper towels and let cool. While your waiting, dump the left over grease from the sauce pan and place it back on the stove. Add the olive oil to the pan and heat to medium. Saute the onions, garlic, and carrot for two minutes and then add the mushrooms. Cook until the onions are clear and the mushrooms are just starting to soften.

Add the tomatoes. Add the basil and oregano. Stir in the sausage and simmer for about 15 minutes, salt and pepper to taste, and then let cool.

Dough:

• 4 cups all purpose flour.
• 1 1/2 cups of warm water (no more than 110 degrees).
• 1 package active dry yeast.
• 1 teaspoon of sugar.
• 1/2 cup olive oil.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• teaspoon of salt.

In a large bowl add the sugar, then pour the water on top. Add the yeast. Let it sit for a few minutes to see if the yeast activates. It should get a little foamy and you will literally see the yeast begin to grow as it eats the sugar. This should take about 5 minutes.

Add about a cup or so of the flour to the water, then add the oil and salt. Begin stirring in the rest of the flour at about a 1/2 cup at a time. You can mix it with your hands, but I generally use a rubber spatula.

After you have folded it all it, turn it out on to a floured surface and knead it about 20 times until it is all combined but still tacky. If you want to use the same bowl for the next step, then let the dough rest while you clean it out with HOT water using NO SOAP. You do not want to kill the yeast.

Grease the bowl with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Form the dough into a ball and roll around the bowl, getting the oil all over it. Let it sit in the bowl, seam side down. Cover with a damp towel and put in a warm place. Let it rise for about an hour to an hour and a half.

Punch down the dough and return to the floured surface. Knead two or three more times just to get the air out and then form back into a ball. Cut in half. If your only going to make one pizza, roll one half of the dough in the bowl again (cover it with oil) and wrap it tight with plastic wrap. Freeze immediately. Thaw whenever you want to use it again.

Putting it all together:

Preheat oven to 500.

Add a little olive oil (about a tablespoon) to the bottom of the skillet and using your fingers, evenly distribute it all over the skillet, Including the sides.

Take your dough and start turning it kind of like your making a left turn in your car. 🙂 You do not have to make it a big round piece. About 8-10 inches is fine. Place in skillet and working from the center to the edge, start pushing the dough toward the edge of the pan. Once your caught up on the edge, try to push the dough up the side of the pan but not to the top. About an inch and a half will be fine. Don’t break the dough, but if you do, fix it. You do not want any sauce on the skillet. Lightly poke the dough with a fork all over the bottom.

Pour your sauce mixture over the dough but don’t let it go over the edge of the dough. In fact, you want to leave about a 1/4 inch of the dough still exposed. Cover this with the mozzarella. It should be completely covered but not too thick. Maybe a 1/4 inch high of cheese.

Turn the oven down to 475 and immediately put the pizza in the oven. Remove when the cheese is golden brown and bubbling, about 20 – 30 minutes.

Let cool for about 10 – 15 minutes. Roll out a piece of parchment paper. Using a spatula and tipping the skillet, the entire pizza should slide right out of the dish and on to the paper. Cut each slice “to order”, in other words don’t slice it all up at once. Serve immediately.